I really like the shawl, and of course, using hand-spun was great. I don’t normally use highly variegated yarns for shawls, but I think this pattern worked with it – the pattern doesn’t get lost in the stripes. It really looks sort of Noro-ish doesn’t it? It isn’t super soft, but it’s wearable – I tried it this morning, and didn’t have an issue with it around my neck (I really cropped the picture because I hadn’t showered!).

This was a great project to take on vacation – the pattern is very easy, and I was able to put it down and pick it up quickly depending on what we were doing without any trouble. We had a very long ride down to Virginia, and this kept me entertained for a long time. Even the boring bits of the pattern weren’t too bad because I was enjoying the color changes in the yarn (as well as the feel of it!).

I think I’m going to keep this rather than giving it away as I planned when I started it – I think it will add a little something to a plain white shirt in the fall and be a nice warm scarf to wear in the winter. I will also like it because it made it start to finish (well, almost start to finish since someone else dyed the roving!), and it was so nice to use handspun that I think it will motivate me to finish whatever I’m currently spinning.

I’ve been really busy since my last post, and I’ll post some pictures next time from my vacation. I didn’t get to one yarn store on vacation – I think that’s a first but we didn’t have the time for anything like that. I did start a new project, and hopefully I’ll have pictures of that soon.

We are working on going through the house and getting rid of things we don’t use. We are planning on a yard sale in early October, and today we did the basement. I really can’t believe how much stuff we had down there. Boxes that we hadn’t opened since we moved in 7 years ago, toys, games, empty cans of paint. We had a huge pile of things to sell – and an equally huge pile of things to throw out. But it felt good to get through it all. Except for the HUGE spiders we kept on encountering (I am not a fan). Next weekend we are tackling the attic and I think I’m also going to go through my project and yarn stash too. I have a couple of projects that I haven’t worked on in a while that I need to either frog or finish (I’m leaning towards frogging). And I want to go through the stash and make sure I only have yarn that I know I’ll use – no point in keeping things that I don’t like. All of this organizing and decluttering really feels good! And it makes me never want to buy anything again!

OK, I’m off to play with the dogs – it’s a beautiful day here and I want to get out for a bit. Have a good weekend!

We earlier this year did a big clean out (in preparation for a move that hasn’t happened yet) and I totally agree with you — we have enough stuff — no more stuff — makes me think twice now when I see something and say – isn’t that anice – nice but it’s not coming home with me.

There is something really cool about knitting with your handspun. I love the travelling woman pattern. It’s easy enough to memorize and seems to move quickly. I made one for a gift and now want to make one for myself.

Welcome back! :) I’ve been working on a Traveling Woman as well, but I think I’m going to frog mine because it’s not as thick and large as I’d like it to be. (I have a huge skein of sock yarn and I’d like to use more of it than Traveling Woman seems to take.) Yours looks fabulous though. The stripes line up so well.

Yeah, our packing and decluttering continues. I can’t believe how much stuff we have in this small 2 bedroom apartment. I did a good of hiding away stuff!! I donated a big bag of yarn to a friend and to Salvation Army. Plus over 200 books. I never want to buy anything again, too. But I know that won’t happen. It’s just made me realize that we should go through the house and declutter every year.